Follow the Tracks
by Cipriani
Summary: Ruddle and Rumina have always been hopeless travelers with no sense of direction, but getting lost is only the first step to finding what truly lies in each other. NPC pairing fic.


A/N: _Hello, everyone! It's been a while since I've written anything here (a few years to be exact). I shall start again on a shiny new account! I've gotten back into writing recently, thanks to needing entertainment during this summer break. The inspiration for this story comes from Star Ocean: Till the End of Time and this fan fiction will be starring two NPCs from the game that many people tend to miss when they play. _

_I'm sure some of you are familiar with Ruddle Crispin and Rumina G. Dogin, the two travelers that can't navigate to save their lives. They end up opening an awesome weapons shop later on in the game if you help them find their way to Kirlsa in disc 1. I have a tendency to like minor characters like Rumina and Ruddle (in this case, they're so minor, they don't even contribute to the plot). I think the interactions you see between these two could be expanded upon._

_This is probably one of the few fics on the Internet that actually focuses on these two, but I like to appeal to obscurity sometimes. I hope that some of you Star Ocean fans will read this, even if it doesn't have any of the main characters you've come to know and love (or possibly hate). _

_- Cipriani (7/14/10)_

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Star Ocean: Till the End of Time or any of its associated characters. This fan fiction was written not for profit, but simply to entertain. Star Ocean belongs to tri-Ace and Square Enix.

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**CHAPTER I**

She felt a slight tap on her shoulder but chose to ignore it. It was far too early to be disturbed, or at least that's what her tired body was telling her as she merely pulled up the covers nearer to her face. Her eyes squeezed themselves tighter; they refused to open. Once more, the tapping came again, followed by gentle shaking when the taps proved all but futile.

_No… Go away… _

Her mind raced with thoughts of defiance and annoyance. He knew better than to wake her before she was ready. She felt the covers being lifted away from her and instantly, she curled up into a ball and buried her face in her pillow.

"Lemme sleep…," she mumbled.

"Miss Rumina, it's time to wake up," came a reply from a soft voice.

The girl rolled away from him, taking the blanket back with her. "I'm still tired, Ruddle…," she grumbled, her words slightly slurring together.

"Don't make me involve the Menodix man," said Ruddle. "I'm sure he'd be willingly to wake you with a moving ballad about the good old days."

Rumina's eyes fluttered open at the thought. She quickly hopped out of bed, and in her state of semi-consciousness, began searching around blindly for her clothing. "Where's my hat? Where is it? We gotta get out of here!"

"Calm down, Miss Rumina," he said, a big smile etched across his face. "He's not here at the moment. We're safe."

"What?" Rumina grabbed one of her boots and threw it at him. "Then why did you tell me that lie?"

Ruddle watched as her boot pathetically fell at his feet. "We need to leave. The sooner we get to Peterny, the better."

Rumina could only sigh as she tied her hair up. Of course he'd pull a trick like this on her. Ruddle seemed like a pleasant fellow on the outside, but being his traveling partner, she knew the real side of him that was unknown to all. Secretly, he loved laughing at other people's expense. Sometimes she cursed her luck, as fate seemed to revel in the jokes he often played on her during their journeys and he always received ample opportunities to make them.

It seemed like today would be no different. Rumina could only pray that this would be all the chance he'd get to pick on her during the trek to the city of Peterny. At least if Ruddle took it too far in the empty wilderness, there'd be no one around to see her rough the boy up a bit. She threw on her cape and stuffed her foot forcefully into her boot. "Well, I'm ready," she said. "You have everything packed?"

"I've been ready for a while, Miss Rumina."

She stuck her tongue out at him. "Like waking up early is anything to brag about."

A few minutes later, they found themselves walking Surferio's streets, the waters flowing freely below their feet. Rumina outstretched her arms as they went about the path, yawning loudly. Ruddle took the moment to observe the sky.

"It's quite a nice day today," he remarked, obviously enjoying the atmosphere.

"Yeah, at least weather won't slow us down," the girl replied as she put her arms back down beside her.

"I have a feeling today's going to be a good day for the both of us. Don't you feel that way too, Miss Rumina?"

She scoffed. "YOU'RE sure in a good mood today, Mr. Sunshine."

"I'm simply enjoying nature's gifts."

The two reached the outskirts of the lost city, the barren Sanmite Steppe stretching across the horizon. A small number of harpies patrolled the area around the few trees that dotted the landscape, but they were far in between. Nearby, the river babbled endlessly, undisturbed.

"Well, there are a few monsters here and there, but we can easily avoid them," announced Ruddle as he pulled out a compass from his jacket. "I'll just have a look at this and we can be on our way."

"I don't trust that compass," said Rumina. "Thanks to that piece of trash, we barely found Surferio yesterday. It was pure luck that we managed to get out of the Passage."

"That wasn't the compass's fault! I merely read it wrong. It works just fine, trust me."

"How does someone misread a compass? And how do you even know you're reading it correctly now?"

"Have some faith, Miss Rumina. I got us this far, didn't I?"

"Yeah, after having us nearly roast to death in the Mosel Dunes and then having us wander the caves for hours, in the dark no less! You know, let me read it this time."

Rumina made a grab for the compass, only for Ruddle to quickly react and move it out of her grasp. "No, I can do this," he said.

"I want to look at it, too!" The girl continued to reach for the instrument. "We're both traveling here, so as partners, we should both have a say in where we go and how we get there."

Ruddle lifted the compass high above his head. She jumped for it, but unfortunately for her, the girl was much too short to reach it.

"Miss Rumina, I'm the navigator."

"That excuse isn't good enough! Now let me see it!"

Rumina latched onto the boy's side, attempting to climb up his jacket and retrieve the compass from there. She miscalculated his strength, however, and soon Ruddle toppled over under her weight, the compass flying out from his grip. From there, the two struggled to get back on their legs. For a minute, they were too focused on grabbing the compass before the other, resulting in much wrestling and scrambling on the ground.

Eventually, Rumina stuffed her partner's face into the dirt and used his back as a balance to push herself up. She dashed straight for the instrument, immediately checking it as she picked it up.

"Hey, why isn't it moving?" she asked, jiggling it around to make it work.

Ruddle lifted his face and coughed. "I think it's broken. It probably couldn't handle the fall."

The girl's face reddened in anger. "This is your fault! If you had let me look at it earlier, this wouldn't have happened!" She threw the compass onto the ground, splitting it in two.

Ruddle stood up, pulling a small handkerchief from his pocket and wiping his dirt-laden face with it. "Well, it IS a city. It can't be that hard to find, right? You just have to look at the situation optimistically, Miss Rumina."

"We're as good as dead if you're leading us," she replied, dousing his spirits with her pessimism. "And we don't even have a compass. This is a death sentence…"

"You don't need to rely on a compass. We have plenty of natural signs that can help us navigate."

"Oh yeah, like what?"

"Well, you have the stars, the sky's map."

"Stars? Stars? Ruddle, if you haven't noticed, it's daylight!"

Rumina sighed and dusted off her shorts. She calmed down, knowing that yelling at the boy wouldn't really get them anywhere. "Let's just go. Maybe we'll get lucky and we can find it without a compass. You're right about one thing: it can't be that hard to find a city."

"That's the spirit, Miss Rumina!"

She could only rub her temple in frustration at his comment. She wondered how anybody could be so sunny and cheerful when faced with such a hopeless scenario. Sometimes, his positive disposition gave her headaches, since she hadn't yet grown accustomed to being around him. Rumina figured anyone would have problems adjusting to his personality.

The two travelers resumed their journey across the Steppe and remained undisturbed by any outside interference by monsters. They didn't speak, the recent spat still fresh on their minds, forcing any potential conversation too awkward to initiate. It wasn't until they reached a fork in the path that Ruddle decided to speak up.

"Where to?" he asked.

"Aren't YOU the navigator? Don't ask me."

"Well, you wanted to have a say in our traveling decisions, right?"

"You only want me to contribute now because you have no idea where we are!"

In front of them lay more barren path, uninhabited and featureless. To their right was a valley where the river dipped, the outer rim lined with trees and shrubs. One of two choices was what they had, and only one was the path that lead to Peterny.

Rumina spoke up. "Well, I have no idea where to go. And apparently, neither do you, Mr. Navigator."

"Well, it'd be more logical to go into the valley."

"And why?"

"Well, the river goes down there and it looks much greener compared to the rest of the Steppe. The other way leads to nothing. Just look at how dry and empty it is. Wouldn't the city be located nearer to the valley instead of a dirt road?"

"I guess that makes sense… We don't have anything else to go off of. Might as well." She was much too irked, not to mention tired, at this point to think out the logic. To her, it sounded like a decent idea and that's what registered in her mind.

Finally in agreement on one subject, they proceeded into the valley, stopping briefly at the river for a quick refreshment. Before them stood the entrance to a forest, which of course, garnered immediate criticism from Rumina.

"Well, I'm assuming a forest isn't where we want to go, Ruddle," she said. "I knew we were doomed the moment that compass broke."

"If I remember correctly, you agreed on going this way, as well. Besides, there's no need to give up hope yet. For all we know, the forest could lead into Peterny."

"Now how would that be possible? Please explain!"

"Some cities have gates that separate the civilians from the wilderness. Why, Peterny is supposedly a large city. I'm sure some part of it runs nearby this forest!"

Once again, she was in no mood to argue. "Fine, then. But if we don't see any sign of the city by the time it starts getting dark, we're going back the other way."

"Okay, I can agree on that."

Rumina heard a nagging voice in the back of her head as they entered.

_What're you doing? Are you crazy?_

She ignored it. All she needed now, on top of the day beginning to fade and a broken compass, was to be hassled by her very own thoughts. Rumina thumped her forehead as if to silence the whispers, which garnered a puzzled look from Ruddle.

"Are you alright, Miss Rumina?" he asked, a bit worried about her mental state. "Don't go beating yourself up, please."

"Just watch the trail, Ruddle," she snapped back.

_You know better than this! Why'd you agree to come this way?_

Echoes of "shut up" mingled with the annoying murmurs, giving her a royal headache.

_You're doomed! Doomed!_

The sun that had greeted them so warmly that morning was beginning to sink below the trees, casting shadows across the forest floor. Reaching the face of a cliff, Ruddle turned around towards the girl, nervously scratching the back of his head. She took this as a sign that he knew he was dead wrong for having come this way. This little display of defeat somehow made her headache more bearable.

"Miss Rumina, we should turn back now. I picked the wrong path," he said.

"Well, it's not all your fault. I did agree with you to go this way." Seeing him mess up and admit it put her in a generous mood.

"Let's go-"

A violent rumbling interrupted his sentence. Frantically, they looked around for the source, the shaking ground nearly knocking them off balance. Ruddle immediately looked back to the cliff face just as the figure of a large, rolling boulder appeared near the top. It spun off of the edge, gravity now sending it speeding right in Rumina's path. She saw it coming but her feet refused to move. Her mind told her to reach for a weapon instead and destroy it, but her hands could only hang uselessly at her side.

Without a second thought, the boy dashed after the girl, grabbing her shoulders and pulling her into the safety of the trees as the boulder crashed nearby, right where she had been standing, and continued to roll out of sight. A few more spilled from on top of the cliff and followed suit. Minutes later, the coast was clear.

Rumina opened her eyes, which she had shut upon seeing the underside of the rock coming rocketing her. The first thing that came into view was the top of Ruddle's messy auburn hair, sprinkled with bits of dust and dirt. She was in too much of a daze to realize that he had fallen on top of her.

Ruddle slowly lifted his head and immediately looked at her. His normally cheerful face was ridden with worry and what seemed to be fear. The sight honestly scared her a bit.

"Miss Rumina, are you alright?" he asked urgently, lifting himself up to get a better view. "Are you hurt anywhere?"

Her reply came slowly. "Yeah, I'm fine…"

His expression softened almost instantly. "Thank goodness."

Finally aware that he was lying on his friend, Ruddle jumped on his feet, his face slightly tinged with pink. Rumina was too preoccupied with her racing thoughts to bother getting off the ground and it wasn't until Ruddle gently took her hand that she snapped back to reality.

_What… was wrong with me back there?_

The boy was slow with her, as if he noticed that she wasn't even focused on him or her surroundings. One glance into her eyes and her current state of mind was clear to him: Rumina was nothing short of stunned. He was a bit shaky himself, still recovering over the fright of the boulder scare.

_Why did I let him do that for me?_

Once back on her feet, she quickly wrested her hand away from him.

"I don't need any help!" she screamed. "I can take care of myself!"

The sudden outburst startled Ruddle and even herself. What was she saying? Of course, logic and rational thought wasn't applying at the moment; she was a mix of disbelief and for some reason, anger. To her surprise, the boy merely smiled and bent down to pick up his hat that had fallen off during the ordeal.

"Miss Rumina, let's camp out for the night," he suggested,

"We can't do that! We can still make it to the other path if we hurry back!"

"That'll have to wait until morning. I think I've gotten ourselves lost and I don't remember the way we came."

Ruddle continued to smile as he spoke, which only served to anger her even more.

"Why are you so happy about that? Do you WANT us to be lost?"

"I think… we need a good night's rest."

Rumina ignored his last statement and began walking away into the thicket of trees. "I don't care what you do, I'm getting out of this forest!"

Without a word, the boy followed. It wasn't until the sun was nearly extinguished from the sky that the girl stopped, sinking down to her knees.

"Where is it? The forest entrance should be here!" she complained.

"We can just search for it in the morning, when we have light." Ruddle slung his pack onto the ground and began digging for blankets. "For tonight, we can camp out."

By now, her sour mood had worn off and in fact, she welcomed the thought of sleep. All she needed for this day to finally pass and become nothing but a bad memory was a good night's rest.

"What about food?" she asked him.

"I'm not sure what we'll do about that. I did see springs along the way but none of them had any fish. We might not be able to eat until we arrive in Peterny."

Rumina flopped onto her back and groaned. How would she last until then, when she was starving now? She could feel her bad temper flaring up again at the prospect of an empty stomach. Suddenly, something fell on her head and draped itself over her face, a blanket; Ruddle had walked over without her noticing.

"I'm going to gather some wood for a fire, okay?" came his voice, as gentle and soft as it had been earlier that morning. "Just sit tight and wait for me."

She pulled the blanket down just in time to see him walk out of sight and back into the forest.

_I can't believe I showed him weakness._

Impatience taking over, Rumina curled up in the cloth and decided that she would go to bed now. After all, they weren't going to have a meal tonight so there wasn't much point in waiting for the boy to start the fire. Removing her hat and placing it on the soft earth for use as a makeshift pillow, she forced her eyes shut. The sound of Ruddle's footprints echoed from the bushes, his steps dying down as he saw his companion attempting to sleep. He could only smile again as he carefully set down the kindling.

"Good night, Miss Rumina," he whispered.

* * *

"Miss Rumina…," came Ruddle's hushed voice from the darkness.

Rumina was wide awake at the moment she heard him, as insomnia was preventing her from the sleep she so wanted. She noticed the fire had long since burnt out, the only light streaming down above them from the few stars in the sky.

He continued, "Were you afraid back there…?"

She remained silent. Did he know she was awake or was he talking in his sleep? Ruddle did sleep-talk every now and then, but he had to be utterly exhausted first for it to happen. Rumina assumed the day's events had been too much for him.

"I know you still aren't used to having me around as a companion… But now that we're a team, you don't have to do things by yourself any longer..."

She began to sit up.

"Are you afraid of having people help you…?"

Rumina hugged her knees to her chest as she listened, captivated.

"I think I understand why you feel like you need to do everything on your own… I just hope… you remember that I'll always be there… whenever you can't achieve something alone…"

She had no idea if Ruddle even knew if she was awake or not. He probably wasn't even awake himself. Either way, Rumina felt relieved to hear his words. As she crawled back under her blanket, one last thought ran through her mind as sleep finally overtook her heavy eyes.

_So that's why he smiled…_

"Please don't hit me, Miss Rumina… It was just a suggestion…"

She couldn't help but giggle at that last comment.

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_A/N: That's the end of chapter one! I hope it was a tolerable read. I know I'm not up to snuff yet at the moment, but I think the more I write this story, the better it will get. I promise to explain some reactions the characters had in this particular chapter later; I really hate it when things aren't explained and just happen. I like reasoning behind things so I assure you I'll do the best I can to elaborate._

_Please leave a review, as I can always use the feedback to hopefully improve things in future chapters and keep in content you all like. But don't be brutal, please! My personal goal for this story is to reach 50 reviews and to do that, I'll need all the help I can get from you lovely readers!_

_Until the next update! - Cipriani_


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